All posts by Pathik

Last month, an advertisement was leaked which revealed that HTC was working on a 16 MP camera phone powered by Windows Phone 7. We haven’t heard anything about that since, but today, Eldar Murtazin from Mobile Review, just posted some leaked images of an HTC smartphone powered by Windows Phone 7. The images reveal that the new HTC device has a 12 MP camera. It looks similar to the HTC Trophy, and has the standard touchscreen candybar form factor.

The images also reveal some additional features like RAW capture mode, anti-banding, exposure metering and compensation, focus mode and the usual – resolution, brightness and contrast.

No other details have been revealed, but we should soon see a camera comparison with the Nokia N8.

Today, at Computex 2011, Viewsonic unveiled the ViewPad 7X, an Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet. It will have the distinction of being the first 7 inch Honeycomb tablet.

It comes with a 7 inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels and is powered by a dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, presumably clocked at 1 GHz. It also offers HSPA+ connectivity and a set of cameras. It weighs only 380 gms, exactly the same as the Galaxy Tab.

Besides the ViewPad 7X, it also showcased the ViewPad 10Pro, which is one of the 10 Intel tablets we mentioned in an earlier post.

It has a 10.1 inch display and comes with a 1.5 GHz Intel Oak Trail processor. It comes with Windows 7 Pro and Android 2.2 with fast switching, which allows you to switch between the 2 OSes without rebooting. It has 32 GB internal storage and a 3500 mAh battery.

It will launch soon in many other countries, including India, and is expected to be the best selling smartphone of the year, at least until the iPhone 5 launches. Carrier specific versions of the Galaxy S 2 will be launched in the US this summer.

Today, J. K. Shin, President, Samsung Mobile, stated in an interview with WSJ, that Samsung was planning to launch a 4G version of the Galaxy Tab, after the launch of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1.

He also said that Samsung will be launching the successor to the Galaxy S 2, the Galaxy S 3 in the first half of 2012. I suppose they will preview it either at CES or MWC 2012.

“Understanding that the market is changing very quickly and being able to embrace market trends quickly is one of Samsung’s biggest challenges in the mobile communications business. We believe that as time progresses, the tablet market will stabilize. There are a lot of players jumping into the market but it’s important to offer a device that customers can relate to and feel it’s a necessity in their daily lives” Mr. Shin said.

In my post about the Best Android Phones of 2011, the first two phones were the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and the HTC Sensation. While the Samsung Galaxy S 2 has been reviewed by many, the HTC Sensation is still relatively new. In the last few days though, some reviews of the HTC Sensation have been cropping up as well. The Galaxy S 2 has received awesome reviews so far, but the HTC Sensation also doesn’t seem to be far behind. It has also been recognized as an excellent device.

In this post, I will compare the HTC Sensation with the Samsung Galaxy S 2. Both the phones have similar hardware specifications and run Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. Both of them have 8 MP cameras and come with a 4.3 inch display.

The Samsung Galaxy S 2 comes with a 4.3 inch SuperAMOLED Plus display which is probably the best mobile display ever, in terms of display quality, brightness, contrast etc. It has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels.

The HTC Sensation has a 4.3 inch S-LCD display with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. It’s an excellent display, but relatively not as good as the SuperAMOLED Plus display of the Galaxy S 2. It does have a higher display resolution though, so it’s a tradeoff between resolution and the display quality.

User Interface

The Samsung Galaxy S 2 comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the TouchWiz 4.0 interface, while the HTC Sensation comes with the same OS and the Sense 3.0 UI. While I personally prefer TouchWiz, I know many people who love the Sense UI, so this is very subjective.

Hardware

The Samsung Galaxy S 2 comes with a 1.2 GHz dual core Exynos processor and the very powerful Mali 400MP GPU. It has 1 GB RAM and comes with 16 GB internal storage.

The HTC Sensation comes with a 1.2 GHz dual core processor as well – the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8260 – and the Adreno 220 GPU. It has 768 MB RAM and comes with 1 GB internal storage.

While both phones are almost equal in terms of processing and graphics, the Galaxy S 2 has more RAM and more internal storage. Most reviews also point that the Galaxy S 2 is marginally better in performance, and more responsive.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S 2 has an 8 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash, and a secondary 2 MP camera too. It offers brilliant image capture quality, and can also record 1080p videos at 30 FPS.

The HTC Sensation comes with an 8 MP camera too and it captures excellent images as well. It also has autofocus, dual LED flash with stereo sound recording, and can record 1080p videos at 30 FPS too.

You will have to wait for some time for a comprehensive camera comparison, but they are most likely equals in this case.

Connectivity

While both the devices offer all the basic connectivity options – EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and GPS with A-GPS, the Samsung Galaxy S 2 has one feature that the HTC Sensation doesn’t – NFC. With so many NFC based apps and services coming along, HTC shouldn’t have missed that one.

The Verdict

Both the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and the HTC Sensation are excellent smartphones. They are undoubtedly the best Android smartphones money can buy. The Samsung Galaxy S 2 will be launched in a couple of days (it has already been launched in some countries), while the HTC Sensation still has a couple of weeks to go.

I personally prefer the Samsung Galaxy S 2 – it is the best smartphone of all time – but even the HTC Sensation is a great device. Both the phones have received superb reviews, so it really boils down to two things:

1. Whether you can wait for the HTC Sensation, resisting the urge to buy the Galaxy S 2 when it launches.

When the rumors of the new Asus PadFone first started circulating, the first thought that came to my mind was how weird the name was – PadFone? Seriously?

But now it all makes sense. Today, Pocketnow leaked some images of the rumored Asus PadFone which will probably be launched at Computex 2011.

It is a very interesting concept – an Android smartphone which can be docked in a tablet. The phone seems to have a standard touchscreen design and can be docked within a tablet. The tablet will be powered by the phone and will also have an opening to use the phone’s camera.

It should be powered by a 1 GHz dual core Tegra 2 processor and have 1 GB RAM, like the Asus EEEPad transformer. It will likely run Android 3.0 Honeycomb on the tablet, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread on the phone. This device would be the perfect launchpad for Android Ice Cream Sandwich, but the possibility is quite remote.

Again, it’s a very interesting form factor, and if priced well, it should sell like hot cakes. Asus has made a great comeback with the Asus EEEPad Transformer, and even the Asus PadFone seems to be a great device. We should see more details as Computex 2011 starts. Stay tuned.

As part of Apple’s lawsuit, Samsung was ordered to hand over pre-production samples of the Samsung Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 2, Droid Charge, Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 8.9 over to Apple, so that Apple could decide if those products were also a part of the lawsuit and seek an injunction against their release.

On Friday, Samsung filed a motion asking Apple to turn over final samples of the iPhone 5 and the iPad 2, along with the retail packaging. It claims that it needs to examine those devices in order to check for any similarities with the Galaxy S 2 or the Galaxy Tab 10.1, so that it can prepare for any potential legal action by Apple.

The problem is, while most of the Samsung products have either launched or have been revealed, Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPad 3 are strictly under wraps. It’s highly improbable that Apple will agree to the request, but it’s a very bold move by Samsung. This lawsuit is definitely getting interesting.

Lodsys first came in the limelight a few weeks back when it started sending patent infringement notices to iPhone and iPad app developers who used in-app purchasing in their apps. Though it didn’t respond initially, Apple did publicly back its developers and stated that it had licensed that patent, which covered its developers as well.

Whether or not the license is valid only for Apple or for its developers as well is still unclear, but today, Lodsys has made a move against some Android developers as well, over the same in-app purchasing patent.

If you’ve been following tech news lately, you may have read about a company named Lodsys that is threatening to sue iOS app developers (many of them small shops) for infringing on patents relating to in-app purchases. We recently implemented in-app purchases for our Android application and several weeks later we received a letter from Lodsys, claiming that we infringed on their patents.

Have any other Android developers out there been sent a letter? Has Google taken any action on this issue yet? Has Google given direction to any developers that have been hit by this? We are obviously a small shop and are not financially capable of defending ourselves over a litigation.

We would appreciate any helpful responses (especially from the Android team).

It’s very likely that Google will respond to this claim by Lodsys and fight it on behalf of its developers, much like Apple. Stay tuned for more updates.

Microsoft is apparently planning to preview Windows for tablets as soon as next week. According to a report by Bloomberg, Microsoft will be showcasing the new tablet OS at the All Things D conference as well as Computex. Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows division and Steve Guggenheimer, Vice President, OEM division are expected to do the honors.

Microsoft will be showcasing the new OS on hardware powered by the Nvidia Tegra chipset. The new version – Windows 8 – will be launched officially in 2012.

With the iPad 2 dominating the market, and Android expected to take a major share of the pie by the time Windows 8 launches, chances are that Microsoft may not be able to make even a dent in that space. It may be too late to the party.

The first Windows 8 tablet prototypes will be powered by ARM processors, not Intel. This is a huge step away from the Wintel partnership which has been prospering since decades.

Intel will also be launching tablets at Computex 2011, powered by Android, MeeGo and Windows.

When I ask you this question: ‘When HTC sells an Android smartphone, who profits?’, the most common logical answer would be HTC, and probably Google, which also benefits indirectly when phone buyers use the Android OS.

Surprisingly, one more company makes a neat profit for every Android phone that is sold by HTC. It’s Microsoft. Thanks to a patent infringement lawsuit settlement with HTC, Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC phone which runs Android.

According to Walter Pritchard, the Citi analyst who revealed this information in his report, Microsoft is also planning to go after other Android device partners, looking for up to $12.50 per device.

While its own mobile division is bleeding money, Microsoft is actually planning to make money from the sales of its biggest competitor – Android.

If every Android manufacturer has to pay a fee for using the Android OS, the OS is not actually ‘free’. This may push manufacturers to skip Android (which is unlikely, but not impossible), and go with Windows Phone 7, to avoid litigation fees and stop paying patent fees to Microsoft.

Paypal was already under siege by startups like WePay and Square, but with Google announcing the new Google Wallet platform powered by NFC, it now has a very major competitor in the mobile payments segment.

Apparently, Bedier was heading the charge for Paypal’s new mobile payments offering, in which Google would be partnering with it. What happened was, Google poached Bedier and dropped those negotiations, instead launching its own mobile payments offering.

Paypal is now alleging that Bedier misappropriated trade secrets from Paypal, to help build Google’s offering. Paypal says that it was working on the lawsuit since Bedier quit, but it seems that Google’s mobile payments announcement may have triggered it, and with good reason – the mobile payments market is expected to reach $630 billion by 2014. Paypal will definitely try to keep Google from getting a huge head start.

Google has tried to compete with Paypal before, in the form of Google Checkout, but failed badly. This time around, it does seem to have a great offering. Also, Paypal hasn’t really entered the mobile payments arena yet, so Google may have a really good chance of dominating the segment.

I expect Paypal to soon make an announcement about its mobile payments offering. Whatever happens to the lawsuit, having two competing giants in the space is definitely great news for the consumers.